Chapter 29
Ace was on duty when the news coo came. As the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard commanders he was incharge of sorting the wanted posters. Not that he minded doing that. He was looking for his little sisters new bounty poster for a few days now. He knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay low in Wano for long. Flipping open the paper to see he looked through the posters. When he saw it. Gripping the paper he tried not to light on fire.
Monkey D. Luffy, 4,611,100,000 berries.
Roronoa Zoro 4,611,100,000 berries.
The words on the poster burned into Ace's eyes like a brand, searing through his very soul. His sister, his baby Luffy, with a price on her head that high. It was a declaration of war, a bounty that screamed her importance to the world.
Ace tried to calm his thoughts, but he immediately started reading the article that was above the number. And in big bold letters at the top was. “THE SUN GOD NIKA HERSELF AND HER BELOVED CONSORT THE DEMON GOD AND KING OF HELL HIMSELF HAVE BEEN RESURRECTED AND REDBORN INTO THE FLESH OF THESE TWO OF THE WORST GENERATION PIRATES, THE CAPTAIN OF THE STRAWHAT PIRATES MONKEY D. LUFFY AND HER RIGHT HAND MAN THE PIRATE HUNTER RORONOA ZORO TO DEFEAT KAIDOU AND BIG MOM! FREEING WANO FROM KAIBOU’S IRON TIGHT GRIP!”
And right below, the article headline was the new bounty posters. The bounty posters both had the same image, but that wasn’t the issue.
The issue is that they looked like God’s.
In the bounty picture both Luffy and Zoro were facing each other, and Luffy was literally floating A few feet up in the air, her feet tucked up underneath her as she cradled Zoro’s face… One of his faces, the one in the middle. The normal carefree Luffy that everyone knew and loved was nowhere to be seen. No, it was something else entirely. Her hair, eyes, and clothes were a stark contrast to the usual, a divine white and gold that spoke of power beyond comprehension. Her hair and clothes looked like a mash of pure clouds and pure white and pure gold fire, swirling and flicking around her, as if she were in a perpetual storm of her own making. The fiery aura surrounding her was blindingly bright, making it almost impossible to look at her directly. Her eyes once a dark brown, almost black was no more, replaced with a bright eerie colored pink, Red irises and they seem to emit a crimson glow, bathing whatever she was looking at in a hint of red. And her body, her body nearly looked white as it emitted a Golden glow. Zoro, on the other hand, in the bounty poster had taken on a far more terrifying visage. He had two additional heads, both of them wearing a terrifying red Oni mask that snarled with malice each, both of the Oni masks each holding one sword in their mouths, his eyes, even the ones below the only masks, all six of them, burned like the pits of hell. His six arms, shoulders, hands, fingers, and necks were covered in tattoos like more kings that each told a story and others were in a language long forgotten. All six of his arms were all holding one katana that looked like it was made out of pure shadows and obsidian. His nails were long and sharp as daggers and blood red, and his face that wasn’t covered by a red Oni mask, The face that Luffy was cradling so lovingly also had a sword held in his mouth, and it had sharp teeth teeth, his teeth were razor sharp, and he had long sharp tusks on his top and bottom teeth were his canine teeth should be, his ears were long and pointed and also had the tattoos on them. Each of the three heads had two sets of absolutely ginormous horns, ones that were slightly smaller and curled slightly like goats horn, and the other set were tall, tall, tall tall as the curved slightly before they curled, both horns looked like they belonged on a dragon, not a person, and you could see his bones beneath his skin and muscles, his dark tan skin was slightly translucent enough to where you could just see his bones.
The crows nest of the Moby Dick eerily quiet as Ace tried to digest the sight before him. His sister, his little Luffy, the girl who used to steal his food and annoy him to no end, had become something more than he ever could have imagined.
Then. “POPS!” Ace shrieked bloody murder, trying to climb down the crows nest as fast as he could, without wrinkling the newspaper or the bounty posters. “POPS! POPS! POPS! POPS! POPS!”
Whitebeard looked at him with a raised eyebrow from his throne, his pipe still in his mouth. “What’s got you in such a tizzy, boy?”
Ace somehow managed to get his foot stuck in the climbing rope of the crows nest, and when he tried to run towards Whitebeard he fell, smacking his forehead hard on the deck. "Pops!" Ace yelped again, holding the newspaper and bounty poster in one hand and his forehead with the other.
Whitebeard looked down at Ace with a mix of concern and amusement, "What's the matter, boy?"
Ace, his voice shaking with excitement, "Look at this! Luffy and Zoro's new bounties are out!" He held out the paper and poster with trembling hands. “4,611,100,000 berries each! And they look like! And they look like!…” he trailed off, not knowing what to say without sounding like he’s off his rockers.
Whitebeard took the newspaper and bounty posters from Ace, his eyes widening as he took in the images. Luffy, his granddaughter, floating like an angel of war, and Zoro, the man who had saved her life so many times, looking like a demon king from the deepest pits of hell. The resemblance to the ancient deities was uncanny, and the implications were not lost on him. The whispers of the prophecy about Nika had always been there, but seeing it staring back at him in such a tangible form was something else entirely. He couldn’t help but chuckle, a deep, rumbling sound that seemed to echo like thunder.
“Well, well, well,” he said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Looks like the world has finally realized what we’ve always known, eh? That girl of yours is something special, Ace. Something more than any of us could have ever dreamed of. And Zoro, the quiet one, turning into a demon god. Ha! Who’d have thought?”
Ace felt a mix of pride and fear swell within him. He knew Luffy’s potential, knew she had the power to change the world, but seeing her as this divine figure was surreal. And Zoro, the man who had fought beside Luffy and protected her time and again, now looked like the embodiment of terror itself.
Whitebeard’s chuckles grew into a full-blown laugh, the sound reverberating through the ship. He slapped his knee, the impact echoing through the wooden planks. “Aye, they look like they’ve been sent from the heavens themselves to lay waste to the wicked! It’s a sight to behold, isn’t it?”
“What are you two yelling about?” One of the Whitebeard pirates, Marco, finally spoke up. Looking at the two of them like they’ve lost their goddamn minds.
Whitebeard, still chuckling, handed Marco the newspaper and bounty posters. “Take a look for yourself, my boy. It seems the world has caught a glimpse of our little Luffy’s true nature. And Zoro, well, he’s always been a bit of a wildcard, hasn’t he?”
Marco's eyes grew wide as he studied the images. "The Sun God Nika and the Demon God... that's... that's them?" he whispered, almost in disbelief. The legend of Nika was one that had been passed down through the generations of pirates, a story of a being with power so great, they could change the very fabric of the world. And here they were, right before his eyes.
The rest of the Whitebeard pirates began to gather around, curious as to what could have their leaders so shook up. A murmur grew as the paper and posters were passed from hand to hand, each pirate gawking at the terrifying yet awe-inspiring depictions of Luffy and Zoro. Their faces reflected a mix of shock, awe, and a newfound respect for the two pirates they had known as comrades.